Selectively convertible chair-table

ABSTRACT

A CHAIR TABLE WHICH CAN BE SELECTIVELY CONVERTED INTO A RELATIVELY HIGH BACK CHAIR, OR INTO A RELATIVELY LOW BACKED WORK CHAIR WITH TABLE ATTACHED. THE CHAIR IS A FOUR LEGGED CHAIR WITH AN UPSTANDING LOW BACK MEMBER SECURED THERETO. THE TABLE PORTION IS FORMED BY A FLAT MEMBER MOUNTED ON AN S-SHAPED FRAME, PIVOTED TO THE FRONT OF THE CHAIR, WITH THE FRAME INCLUDING A LATCH BAR MOVABLE FROM A POSITION ADJACENT THE UNDERSIDE OF THE SEAT TO A POSITION ADJACENT THE REAR OF THE FRONT LEGS THUS PERMITTING THE FLAT MEMBER ON THE FRAME TO BE SELECTIVELY POSITIONED AND HELD EITHER IN AN EXTENDED TABLE FUNCTIONING ORIENTATION OR IN A POSITION OVERLYING THE RELATIVELY LOW BACK OF THE CHAIR TO PROVIDE A HIGH BACK FACILITATING USE OF THE CHAIR FOR COMFORT PURPOSES.

, H. s. GuRBsT SELECTIVELY CONVERTIBLE CHAIR-TABLE Filed March 20, 1969INVENTOR B HERBERT S. GURBST ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,554,597 SELECTIVELY CONVERTIBLE CHAIR-TABLEHerbert S. Gurbst, Kingston, Pa., assignor to Remco Industries, Inc.,Harrison, NJ. Filed Mar. 20, 1969, Ser. No. 808,945 Int. Cl. A47c 13/00U.S. Cl. 297-126 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A chair table which can beselectively converted into a relatively high backed chair, or into' arelatively low backed work chair with table attached. The chair is afour legged chair with an upstanding low back member secured thereto.The table portion is formed by a flat member mounted on an S-shapedframe, pivoted to the front of the chair, with the frame including alatch bar rnova'ble from a position adjacent the underside of the seatto a position adjacent the rear of the front legs thus permitting theflat member on the frame to be selectively positioned and held either inan extended table functioning orientation or in a position overlying therelatively low back of the chair to provide a high back facilitating useof the chair for comfort purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the art ofconvertible furniture, and more particularly to a chair-tableparticularly adapted for use as an item of childrens furniture which canbe selectively employed as a comfort chair for television viewing or thelike, or a work table and chair in which the chair provides desired lowback support.

A variety of items of convertible furniture have been evolved whichpermit the use of the item of furniture for more than one purpose. Thuscombination chairs and tables have been developed in which the item maybe selectively converted from a chair to a table or to a combinationchair and table.

Thus Levy in U.S. Pat. 1,948,387 of Feb. 20, 1984 discloses achair-table in which a cross-legged folding chair is formed with a backmemberpivotally secured to an upwardly extending portion of the leg by athumb screw. By loosening the screw the back member can be selectivelypositioned either in a vertical plane so that the back member functionsas the back of the chair, or in a horizontal plane so that the backmember functions as a table surface.

McCalw in U.S. Pat. 2,506,606 of May 9, 1950 discloses a seat and bencharrangement in which the back of the seat is supported on a bell-cranklinkage pivoted at the rear of the chair so that it may be moved to ahorizontal plane to provide a table surface as desired. McCawdistinguishes over Levy in the use of a bell-crank and the latchingmechanisms employed.

Mickelson in Design Patent 178, 611 discloses a similar arrangement inwhich the back of the chair may be moved to a horizontal plane. TheMickelson patent distinguishes over the McCaw and Levy teachings in thatthe backrest is supported on a frame member which is pivoted to thefront of the chair so that the frame member provides arms for the chairwhen the back is positioned in a vertical plane.

One of the problems present in these prior art chairta=ble combinationis that when the table surface is extended, the resulting chairstructure is backless, making it relatively inconvenient for the user.This is patricularly a problem where the chair table is intended for useby small children, since the lack of back support tends to make thechild restless, and his limited attention span is further limited by thephysical discomfort of being in a seat without a back support.

5 Claims Another problem with the prior art constructions is that thepositioning of the table surface in an operative position requires arelatively complex mechanism, requiring careful and trained manipulationby the user, and involving a relatively expensive construction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is with the above considerationsin mind, that the present improved chair-table has been evolvedproviding a relatively simple structure, simple in manufacture and use,serving to provide a chair which may be selectively converted from arelatively high backed chair providing full back support into a chairand table with the chair providing low back support, and subject tosimple manipulation to desired orientation.

It is accordingly among the objects of this invention to provide aselectively convertible chair-table which may be employed as a chair forcomfort purposes or a combination table and chair.

Another object of the invention is to provide a selectively convertiblechair-table in which conversion from a chair to a combined table andchair involves relatively simple manipulation, requiring minimalphysical skills, so that the chair-table may be employed by a child.

A further object of the invention is to provide a selectivelyconvertible chair-table in which the chair member is always providedwith a back rest particularly adapted for the use to which the chair isto be put, on the one hand providing high back support for comfortpurposes, and on the other hand providing low back support for workpurposes.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a convertiblechair-table in which secure locking of the members in desired chair ortable orientation is accomplished without requiring manipulation by theuser.

These and other objects of the invention which will become hereafterapparent are achieved by forming the chair-table with a seat membersupported by four legs at each corner thereof. The legs are preferablyformed of tubular stock with a pair of front and rear legs on each sideof the chair formed of a continuous length bent into the form of aninverted U. A low back rest is secured to the rear of the chair,preferably supported on an inverted U-shaped tubular member secured tothe left and right hand leg members at the rear of the chair. A tableback member support frame is provided, also preferably formed of acontinuous tubular member. The support frame is substantially S-shapedin side elevation as viewed from each side of the chair, with a latchbar joining the lower edges of the S-shaped portion of the frame. Thistable back support frame is pivoted to the front of the seat, preferablyto the leg members at a point just beneath the front of the seat, withthe latch bar extending slightly beneath the seat, and subject tomovement in an are between limiting positions adjacant the rear surfaceof a frontvleg, and the bottom surface of said seat.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that the conventional legstructure of the chair provides a detent for the latch bar serving tomaintain the table-back member in desired position, as selected eitheras a table, or as a seat back.

Another feature of the invention resides in the fact that the back-tablesupport frame is dimensioned so as to provide no interference with thespreading of the knees, when the table is extended.

A further feature of the invention resides in the fact that theback-table is of a dimension such that when it is in a backrestsupporting position, it provides relatively full back support such aswould be desired when the chair is employed for comfort purposes as forexample when a child uses the chair for television viewing or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The specific details of a preferredembodiment of the chair-table, will be particularly pointed out inclear, concise, and exact terms in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view, looking from a rear corner atthe chair-table, with the table surface extended for use;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational perspective view of the chair-table,showing the table member retracted to provide a high back support forthe chair; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the chair-table illustrating themovement of the table-back support frame required to selectively convertfrom the high backed chair shown in solid line position to the lowbacked chair with table shown in extended dotted line position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODI- MENT OF THE INVENTION Referring nowmore particularly to the drawings, like numerals in the various figureswill be taken to designate like parts.

As seen in the drawings, the chair-table is formed with a seat member15, which may be formed of any one of a large variety of materials foundto provide a suitable seating surface. In the illustrated embodiment ofthe invention, the chair-table 10 is embodied for use as an item ofchildrens furniture, and accordingly the seat member is preferablyformed of a relatively rigid and sturdy sheet material such ascomposition board, Masonite being found eminently suitable.

The seat 15 is provided with four legs 16, 17, 18 and 19. Legs 17 and 19provide front legs for the chair, while legs 16 and 18 provide the rearlegs. Each pair of legs on each side of the chair are preferably joinedtogether into an inverted U-shaped leg assembly, subject to beingfabricated of a length of tubing or the like. Thus a leg assembly 22, asviewed to the right in FIG. 1, will provide for rear leg 16 joined tofront leg 17 by a seat supporting side piece 23. Similarly leg assembly25, as viewed to the right in FIG. 2, will include legs 18 and 19 joinedtogether by seat supporting side piece 26. Rivets, or the like fasteningmembers 27 may be satisfactorily employed for securing the seat member15 to the leg assemblies 22 and 25.

A low back supporting backrest is provided by securing inverted U-shapedbackrest frame 30 to the rear of the chair. This is preferably done bysecuring by means of rivets or the like, the downwardly extending legs31 and 32 of the backrest frame 30 to rear legs 18 and 16 respectivelyof the chair, as best seen in FIG. 1. A backrest member 35, preferablyformed of the same material as the seat 15 is secured by riveting or thelike between the backrest frame legs 31 and 32, as best seen in FIG. 1.

The table forming assembly 40 comprises a pivotally mounted supportframe preferably formed of a tubular material like that of the legs. Thesupport frame is shaped in the contour of two flattened S-shaped members42 and 44 (as viewed in side elevation) joined by a latch bar 45extending between the ends of the bottom legs of the S-shaped members.Back-table support frame 40 is pivoted adjacent the front of the chairwith the latch bar 45 extending behind front legs 17 and 19, and beneathseat 15 as viewed in the drawings. As illustratively shown in thedrawings, pivoting of the support frame 40 to the chair is accomplishedby extending a pivot pin 47 which may be a headed rivet or the likethrough the lower legs of the S-shaped portion of frame 40 and the seatsupporting portion 23 and 26 of the leg assemblies 22 and 25, it beingunderstood that free pivoting of the support frame 40 with respect tothe chair is provided by the pivoting t on, A. back-table member 49,formed of a smooth relatively rigid material is secured to the upperportions of the support frame 40 by means of rivets 50 or the like. Inthe illustrated embodiment of the invention, the back-table member 49 isformed of the same material as the seat 15 and backrest with thedimensions of the back-table member 49 being larger than that of thebackrest 35, and preferably of the same size as the seat member 15.

OPERATION The aforedescribed chair-table 10 is assembled by theutilization of simple riveting techniques or may be shipped Knocked Downfor assembly of the legs, backrests, table-back and support frame by theuse of nuts and bolts.

In use, as best seen in FIG. 3, the back-table support frame with theback-table member 49 secured thereto may be selectively moved from thesolid line position to the dotted line position, as shown in FIG. 3.

In the solid line position, the back-table member 49 overlies the lowbackrest 35, and since the center of gravity of the frame 40 andback-table member 49, as viewed in FIG. 3 is to the left of the pivot,the weight of the member tends to keep it in the solid line positionillustrated in FIG. 3 once the back-table member has been brought to theleft of the pivot pin 47. Additional security of support of theback-table member 49 in its backrest position shown by solid lines isprovided by latch bar bearing against the inner surface of front legs 17and 19, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3. In this solid line position, it willbe noted that the chair has a relatively high backrest with arms formedby the intermediate portions of the S-shaped part of frame 40 serving toprovide a relatively comfortable chair.

When it is desired to employ the chair-table 10 for play, work, oreating, the table orientation may be obtained by bringing thechair-table surface 49 to the dotted line position illustrated in FIG. 3as shown in FIG. 1, which merely requires grasping of the chair-tablemember 49 and pivoting the chair table member 49 along with the supportframe 40 about pivot pin 47, to the right as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thetable 49 is assured of proper. orientation with respect to the chair byvirtue of the fact that the latch bar 45 comes to rest against the seatsupporting portions 23 of the leg assembly, adjacent the bottom surfaceof the seat.

It is thus seen that a simple construction has been provided for aselectively convertible chair-table which may have its parts positionedto provide a chair for use for comfort purposes providing arm rests anda relatively high back, or converted to a combination chair and table inwhich desired low backrest support is provided along with a tablesurface. By virtue of the fact that the support frame 40 has no portionsextending below the knees of the user, when the table is extended,desired freedom for the legs of the user is provided.

What is claimed is:

1. A selectively convertible chair table comprising: a seat member;front and rear legs secured to said seat member adjacent the front andrear thereof and supporting same in a substantially horizontal plane; asupport frame pivotally mounted adjacent the front of said seat, saidsupport frame having a latch bar subject to movement, as said frame ispivoted, in an are between limiting positions adjacent the rear surfaceof a front leg and the bottom surface of said seat; and a back-tablemember secured to said frame for movement with said frame between alimiting position substantially perpendicular to the rear edge of saidseat, when said latch bar is at its limiting position against the rearsurface of said front leg and a limiting position in a position aboveand spaced from the front of said seat when said latch bar is in itslimiting position adjacent the bottom surface of said seat.

2. A selectively convertible chair-table as in claim 1 in which abackrest is firmly secured adjacent the rear of said seat, aid backresthaving an area smaller than that of said back-table member when in backsupporting position.

3. A selecti'vely convertible chair-table as in claim 1 in which saidsupport frame comprises: two spaced S- shaped members lying in a planeperpendicular to the latch bar, with the lower legs of the S-shapedmembers joined to said latch bar, with the upper legs of the S-shapedmembers supporting said back-table member, and the lower legs of saidS-sh'aped members pivoted adjacent the front of the seat, with theintermediate portion of the S-shaped members forming arms for the chairwhen the back-table member is in its rearward position, and extendingabove the knees of the occupier of the chair when the table is extended.

4. A selectively convertible chair-table as in claim 1 in which said legmembers are formed by leg assemblies comprising inverted U-shapedmembers the downwardly extending portions of which form the front andrear legs on each side of the chair, and the cross portion of whichprovides a seat support, and a detent for said latch bar.

5. A selectively convertible chair-table as in claim 3 in which theintermediate portion of said S-shaped members extends upwardly from apoint adjacent the front of the chair when said back-table member isextended to a table forming position, whereby there will be nointerference with the knees of a user seated in said chair-table.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 178,611 8/1956 Mickelson297-125 2,820,507 1/1958 Provencher 297--126 2,900,009 8/ 1959 Haynes297126 JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner

